Final report for LS18-300
Project Information
This project aims to expand Fresh Stop Markets (FSMs), developed by the New Roots, as a mechanism that enables farmers to achieve both agricultural sustainability and social justice in the food system across the Southeast region.
FSMs are "pop up" farm-fresh markets organized biweekly for 22 weeks during the season at local churches, community centers and other public spaces in food insecure neighborhoods. FSMs provide local fresh produce to each market's shareholders on a sliding scale based on income. Unlike traditional community supported agriculture schemes, there is no expectation for shareholders to purchase all shares in the beginning of the season, nor are they committed to participate in every market day. FSMs offer farmers a low-risk outlet which helps them diversify their marketing portfolios and transition from farmers' markets and CSAs to wholesale markets. FSMs allow farmers to become active leaders in their community to build food systems that promote environmental stewardship and social equity.
In Year 1, the research component will take place. First, phone interviews with national and regional leaders of farmers' and consumers' cooperatives, independent business associations and non-profit organizations will be carried out to identify potential models for agribusiness partnership and assess their applicability to build a regional network of community based organizations who wish to operate their own FSM. Second, we will evaluate potential instruments for replicating a FSM model to other communities through focus group interviews and listening sessions held during the FSM retreat, organized by New Roots, our field visit to potential FSM sites, and at the Annual Conference of Southern SAWG, with farmers and leaders of existing and potential FSMs in the region. Third, to understand economic viability of FSMs, we will conduct a survey of farm enterprises from the 14 existing FSMs and 5 case studies.
In Year 2, four types of instruments will be designed and piloted, including: a "community readiness assessment toolkit" to assess the readiness of a CBO to organize a FSM; a "community capacity building toolkit", used by a CBO, to build the community's readiness to organize a FSM; operational manuals and training materials to share knowledge with and train community leaders and farmers to successfully operate a FSM; and an "audit system", used by New Roots, to ensure that FSMs operated by various CBOs meet the mission and values of FSMs. These instruments will be implemented in Years 2 and 3. We will visit each of the newly established sites at least once to evaluate the effectiveness of these instruments and make necessary adjustments on them to improve their effectiveness.
This project will:
- Develop a model, including toolkits, for replicating FSMs to increase the participation of small-scale, limited-resource farmers in the Southeast region;
- Design instruments to monitor the effectiveness of the model in enabling farmers to achieve their vision of ecological, financial, and sociocultural sustainability;
- Create opportunities for farmers to become leaders in their community and local food economy.
Cooperators
- - Producer
- - Producer
- - Producer
- - Producer
- - Producer
- (Researcher)
- - Producer
Research
Between April 2020 and September 2021, we experienced tremendous challenges due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Most of data collection and analysis were completed in the previous year. Between February and March 2020 (at the end of the last reporting period), the University of Tennessee-Knoxville team completed a farmer survey. The analysis was completed during this reporting period. The UK team worked with New Roots, Inc. and Bellwether Collectives to produce a series of videos about New Roots, Inc. and its farmers. Those videos will become available as outreach materials for farmers, interested in participating in a justice-oriented food hub that emphasizes sustainable farming practices. With an undergraduate research assistant, funded by the YSE fellowship program, we also created a "Farmers' Guide to Fresh Stop Market, Inc." The following represents all of the research activities completed during the period:
- The UT team contacted 962 farms in Tennessee and Kentucky, which contact information was obtained from the TN Ag Enhancement Program and KY Proud Program. Survey was sent to farmers in East TN (32 counties, including Knox County) and the Lexington and Louisville areas (14 counties). Both web and mail survey versions were available. The survey included 22-27 questions, depending on respondent's selections.
- We were able to reconnect with the Farm Food Share through the Manager of Development, Terry Billie, to complete the case study started in 2019. We completed interviews with Terry Billie in September of 2021. She agreed to be a co-author of the Farm Food Share case study manuscript. A final draft of the manuscript is in preparation for submission to a journal.
- Between April 2020 and January 2021, the UK team regularly met with the Advisory Board to discuss what "outputs" from this project would be useful for farmers. They recommended us to generate a series of videos, which can be distributed at the New Roots's website as well as their own websites. The UK team worked with New Roots, Inc. and Bellwether Collectives to develop scripts for short videos of individual farmers/farms and New Roots, Inc. Between March and August 2021, Bellwether Collectives met with each of 3 farms and visited their farms for recording. As of November 12, 2021, the videos are at the final editing stage.
- As a YSE summer fellow, Elizabeth Browning developed a "A Farmers' Guide to Fresh Stop Market," after having participated in all farmer video recording sessions.
- The UK team worked on a journal manuscript, which was submitted to Culture, Agriculture, Food & Environment.
- The UT team worked on a journal manuscript, which was accepted by the Journal of Food Distribution Research.
- The UT team presented two papers at the Annual Meeting of Food Distribution Research. The second one is on the 2021 Proceeding.
Between April 2019 and March 2020 we investigated the New Roots Inc. organization and Fresh Stop Market model. The University of Tennessee-Knoxville team also began its case study research on farmers who used to sell to fresh stop markets and those that currently do. They also completed financial analysis for two of our the case study model food hub organizations we interviewed in 2018. The following represents all of the research activities completed during this year.
- In the Summer of 2020 the UK team conducted interviews with New Roots Inc. leaders. In total, 14 organizational leaders participated including 1 farmer, executive director, volunteer market leaders, board members and 1 past organizational partner. Interviews were transcribed and thematically coded. This year, the data findings were presented as a poster by our Undergraduate Research Assistant, Nathaniel Messer for SSARE and at the Southern Rural Sociological Association conference.
- Participant observation at two markets in the summer of 2019- notes transcribed and coded by undergraduate research assistant.
- Case study interview data has been analyzed and results were used in Teya Cuellar's Master's Thesis, shared with advisory board members, shared at the Southern Rural Sociology Association conference and have been used for a publication forthcoming in the Rural Sociology journal.
- Two food hub model case studies were completed by UT-Knox.
- One that focused on a decision the organization made about stopping the management of a specific operational segment in 2018, specifically the food share program. The case study is completed, but we are unable to publish the manuscript without the approval of the organization. We obtained the information for the case study from Gini Bell, the executive director of the organization in 2019. Unfortunately, Gini is no longer the executive director of the organization and we have not been able to receive approval from the current organization leadership. We are in the process of modifying the manuscript so that we can publish it without violating privacy considerations.
- We completed data collection for a second case study on New Roots that focused on the structural changes this organization had to make to overcome challenges associated with losing a significant source of income supporting the organization. We expect to complete the manuscript associated with this case study within the next reporting period.
- On January 2020, we conducted a focus group with two out of the three farmers working with New Roots in providing fresh produce to families in Kentucky through the Fresh Stop Markets. Undergraduate students are currently transcribing notes from this focus group.
- On January 2020, we had to modify focus group protocols to conduct personal interviews with farmers and organizations who participated in Fresh Stop Markets but are no longer participating in Fresh Stop Markets. We completed four interviews. Undergraduate students are currently transcribing notes from these interviews.
- On January 2020, we collected information from two farms, one selling produce through the Fresh Stop Markets and one that used to sell produce trough Fresh Stop Markets, but it is no longer selling through Fresh Stop Markets. We are completing the profile of these farms specifically as it relate to their experience selling produce through Fresh Stop Markets.
- Between November and December of 2019, we designed and tested a survey instrument to assess farmers willingness to sell produce through Fresh Stop Markets in a region where no Fresh Stop Markets exist (Knox County and other adjacent counties in Tennessee), and an area where Fresh Stop Markets exists (Jefferson and Fayette counties and other adjacent counties in Kentucky). We used a mixed-mode survey employing alternative methods for different respondents (web and mail) in the same period of time. The online survey was first distributed through Qualtrics, a web-based survey tool, on February 19, 2020. Two reminders were sent on February 28, and March 12. We also sent the survey via mail to those farmers in our contact list that did not have an e-mail address or did not respond to the web survey. We have received 73 completed surveys. Data collection will be completed by mid-April, 2020.
Between April 2018 and March 2019, we investigated the Fresh Stop Market (FSM) model, developed by New Roots, Inc.: how it works; what processes and mechanisms are involved in creating, maintaining, and operating FSMs; how decisions are being made; how sound its financial base, etc. After we began research activities in July, the research team from the University of Kentucky (UK) and the University of Tennessee (UT) discovered that the FSM model was not as financially sound for farmers as previously believed because New Roots, Inc.'s dependence on grants and gifts to support the operation. New Roots, Inc. was planning to reorganize FSMs in order to simplify its financial operation.
Instead of our original goal of developing tools for replicating FSMs, we have decided to focus more on identifying processes and mechanisms that are considered as best practice in engaging small-scale and limited-resource farmers work to a food hub operation that tries to address both sustainability and social justice goals. Instead of using FSM as "the" model, we have decided to investigate multiple models in use. To achieve that, we first attended the annual meeting of FSM leaders in November, 2018 to conduct participant observation. This helps us understand the dynamics of how FSM leaders interact and make decisions. In November and December, we identified several organizations (non-profit and for-profit) in the region who have a food hub operation with a strong social justice/food security mission. Between January and March, 2019, the UK team completed interviews with six organizations about their histories, leaderships, organizational structures, and operations. The UT team is currently interviewing these organizations about the financial aspects of their operation. Also, during this time we have organized our advisory board to include farmers interested in the FSM model, farmers currently selling to FSMs, leaders of community-based food organizations in the Southeast, FSM market volunteers, the New Roots Inc. Executive Director, one representative from SSAWG, a representative from the Appalachian RC&D Council and the research team. The advisory board is providing the research team with direction on research protocols and instruments as well as communications and community outreach. We also hosted two workshops at the SSAWG annual meeting in January to introduce the FSM model to other food justice organizations in the Southeast, provide a leadership platform for FSM farmers and market volunteers and connect New Roots Inc. with additional farmers and potential resources. This opportunity also provided the research team with additional data to help us understand how the market model is communicated to diverse audiences.
For 2020/2021, our findings from the farmer survey are as follows:
Survey: Of 961, 161 responses were obtained for a 17% response rate. Questions focused to identify factors that increase farmers' willingness to sell their produce to FSM. Our regression analysis show small scale (farm gross revenue < $25,00), college/graduate education, and participation in a farm education program are key factors that positively affect farmers' willingness to sell their produce to FSM. The survey asked whether they were willing to sell their produce through FSM if "Prices paid are 25% below retail prices (e.g., Farmers Markets)." 50% of respondents said "Yes," while 49% said "No." Of 50% of farmers who are willing to sell their produce to FSM at 25% below retail price, 59% responded that they would be willing to sell at 30% below retail price.
Case study: In order to replicate FSM in the US southeastern region, there needs to be a financially healthy organization that addresses various goals of the food justice mission supporting this marker model. Revenue volatility and human capital requirements were identified as challenges that could put at risk the long-term financial viability of New Roots, Inc, and therefore other local organizations interested in supporting FSM.
For 2019/2020, our findings from our in-depth interviews with model food hub organizations and New Roots Inc. include:
New Roots Inc. Fresh Stop Markets:
Through interviews with 14 different organizational leaders and participant observation at two markets, we have learned about the diversity of market operations depending on the community context and leadership as well as the differences in how the organization's mission is interpreted, the challenges of sustaining the financial viability of the markets and how organizational decision-making and knowledge systems are concentrated with one or two people. Related to diverse mission interpretations, we learned of the gap between staff, board and volunteers. For example, some volunteers and staff feel that the board is "out of touch" because they do not represent the communities the organization serves. We also learned that contrary to the desire for their to be an exemplary "model" for the markets to operate under, it appears that most markets reflect the neighborhood or local town context in which they operate and this especially the case for the rural markets. Finally, what we learned is that the farmer roles in the organization have evolved tremendously in the ten years since its inception. In just three years, the markets have gone from procuring directly from over 20 producers to working with three primary growers. Additionally, the leadership role these three farmers play has expanded and does not follow a traditional food hub model. Instead of New Roots aggregating and serving as market coordinators, these three lead farmers coordinate together to aggregate and distribute produce. One farm is the lead organizer and provides their procurement software to New Roots Inc. This means that New Roots shareholders and volunteers have moved away from direct contact with farmers and the three growers have more responsibility and control over pricing and volume. This change happened after New Roots lost a key grant and had to fire their farmer liaison. New Roots is now primarily focused on organizing shareholders and managing operations at the markets.
Due to the ever-evolving operational model of New Roots Inc. and the variations of markets, we have determined that there is no singular fresh stop market "model", which has required us to shift our outreach and education efforts away from "toolkits" on replicating the model.
In order to better understand the dynamics of food hubs with social justice missions, we looked at four other hubs in the Southeastern region as case studies. Below is a data table we have created, which reflects the similarities and differences across each hub.
Table 1. Key Characteristics of the Case Organizations
|
Case |
|
Southern Food Hub |
Full Circle Food Hub |
Upward Arc |
Perry Center |
|
Justice Mission |
|
Implicit |
Implicit |
Explicit |
Implicit |
|
Location Features |
Small rural Southeastern coastal area; 51% white |
Mid-sized Southeastern college city; majority non-white |
Mid-size Southeastern city; racially segregated; white majority |
Small rural Appalachian communities; large white majority |
|
|
Enterprise Type |
501c3 |
501c3 |
501c3 |
501c3; membership Based |
|
|
Service type |
Wholesale food hub2; farmer technical assistance; mobile market |
Wholesale food hub; farmer technical assistance; waste recovery; hybrid CSA |
Hybrid CSA |
Wholesale auctions; farmer technical assistance; grocery and hospital pop-up markets |
|
|
Producers |
Multi-county; no number given |
Statewide; 600 farmers |
3-10 farmers within 100 miles |
Regional in two states; 190+ farmers, |
|
|
Consumers |
Rural & urban; Mobile markets @ 10 public- housing locations |
Urban; 20,000+ college & food-insecure consumers |
Urban & rural; Hybrid CSA with 700 shares |
Rural; Institutional buyers; 9 pop-up markets |
The table illustrates the incredible diversity of operations at each hub and especially how the location of the hub and how its regional food system and local demographic contexts shape what is possible. Additionally, we found that the role farmers have in the organizations and the direct services provides to producers is dependent on the organization's funding model. This includes the market portfolios of the organization (wholesale, retail, auctions, CSA, etc.) and the types of funders who were supporting specific parts of the organization's mission. This is concerning because of the risk it poses to farmers. If the hub's are primarily funded through grant dollars, there is concern that fickle funders could radically transform the markets available to farmers in less than a year's time, making it difficult for the business to re-organize. There are other food hub research teams that argue for social justice food hubs to be seen more as a public good, therefore opening them up to more stable funding streams to cover their mission-based work. This is a line of thinking that could be good for future research.
In conclusion, given the diversity that we found with our in-depth case study of New Roots and in the four case study organizations, we are now considering a new plan for our grant outreach and education deliverables. One consideration is to provide facilitation guides for communities that are interested in exploring a social justice food hub to help them explore their readiness and most importantly how their local context will shape the form a model will take. In addition, we could provide farmer decision-trees to help them determine what the challenges and opportunities may be when selling to a social justice food market including how to manage relationships with non-profit partners. We are meeting with our advisory board in April to have their expertise weigh in on final products.
Education
From 2020 onward, due to the COVID 19 pandemic, our abilities to engage in in-person educational and outreach activities were extremely limited. Moreover, our collaborator, the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group officially closed its door in April 2020. We therefore lost a critical avenue to disseminate our educational materials. The Farmer Advisory Board of this project met frequently over the summer of 2020 to discuss effective educational materials about the New Roots's Fresh Stop Market model. We decided to develop a series of short videos that target those farmers who are interested in organizing and/or participating in a justice-oriented produce market like New Roots, Inc.
Over the summer of 2021, video shootings were completed by Bellwether Collectives, Inc. As of 12/1/2021, videos are still in the final editing stage. There will be videos (each around 5-8 minutes) on farms involved in Fresh Stop Markets (FSMs) and New Roots, Inc. which organize FSMs. Each farmer video will focus on: (a) general overview of the farm, (b) how they got involved in FSM, (c) the effects of FSM on farm operation, (d) the advantage/disadvantage of FSM over other market outlets, (e) tools and tricks to engage with FSM easier, and (f) general advice. These videos will be made available on the websites of the participating farms as well as the website of New Roots, Inc.
In 2019-2020, the leadership of our educational activities has been shared between researchers (intended for academic audiences to promote innovation, build research networks and share data with other food hub researchers); Farmer advisory board members (to build their leadership capacity and encourage peer to peer mentorship across the region and share best practices in working with social justice food hubs); And our non-profit community partner, New Roots Inc. (traveled throughout the region attending multiple events, connecting with organizations and farmers interested in the Fresh Stop Market model and providing intensive training, continuing to build a network of food justice food hub stakeholders by presenting to broad audiences such as at the SSAWG conference).
Farmer advisors and New Roots have created a powerpoint presentation that details how farmers include fresh stop markets into their business model including how it compares to other markets and what financial systems are used. This educational tool has been presented to multiple farmers and food hub organizer (details in next section). Additionally, we worked collaboratively to develop a mini-course on Food Justice in Action which focused on the community organizing strategies of both farmer leaders and market volunteers for the SSAWG conference in 2019. This session was standing room only and gave fresh stop market farmers a leadership development opportunity as they presented on their roles in the organization and discussed how they define food justice and how they DO food justice work on their farms.
We include a list of all Outreach/Educational Events in the "Other" section below.
Two events were organized at the Annual Conference of the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group between January 24 and 26, 2019 in Little Rock, AR: (1) Fresh Stop Markets Meet and Greet Session on Thursday, January 24 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.; and (2) "If You Don’t Carrot (Care It) Won’t Happen" on Friday, January 25 from 8:00 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. The first event was a networking event to bring together farmers and organizations in the South who are interested Fresh Stop Markets. The second event was a more educational program where FSM farmers discussed the benefits and challenges of participating a marketing venue like FSM.
Educational & Outreach Activities
See the section under "Education." Two events were organized at the Annual Conference of the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group in January 2019. Of them, one is an educational session, targeting both farmers and non-profit organizations interested in organizing their own Fresh Stop Market.
Participation Summary:
Consultations: New Roots has consulted with organizers, community members and farmers in Knoxville, TN, Manchester, KY, Memphis, TN and Gainesville, FL. In Manchester, KY the farmers learned about how farm-fresh food is important to people in recovery from drug misuse and how the logistics and finances of the model work.
They have consulted extensively with organizers and farmers in Gainesville, Florida. Below is a list of all activities associated with the Consultation in Gainesville, FL. It includes workshops, one on ones and networking:
- New Roots spent eight days in Gainesville, Florida participated in:
- Four org farms: Siembra, Family Garden, John Nix (African American), and Lenny’s Family Farm (African American). Met with four farmers.
- Two farmers’ markets, met with four farmers.
- Jewish Community of Gainesville (CSA pick up site). Met with three leaders, one farmer (community garden).
- Community meal with ten farmers (five African American) from Alachua Food System Network
- Community Food Justice talk with 60 attendees (12 farmers, 48 organizers, etc.)
- Tour of Farmworkers of Florida/Florida Legal Services site in Crescent City, Florida to talk about farmworker food insecurity. Two organizers, no farmers.
- Small community gathering with food justice-oriented professors and students (15 participants, no farmers) at University of Florida La Casita Center
- Tour of three food justice community projects (Growing Food, Grow Hub, Farm to School) (total reach ten people, five farmers)
- Meeting with Agricultural Justice Project (five organizers)
The farmers learned from information New Roots presented from Rootbound Farm about how the financials of the Fresh Stop Market model work. Organizers learned about the community organizing aspect of the model. There was great interest in the H2A program, i.e., migrant workers, and how they are treated at Rootbound Farm.
Educational Material:
- Presentation slides provided to all mini-course participants at the SSAWG Annual conference including financial analysis of three farmers.
- Short videos of FSM farmers and markets to be released.
- Farmers Guide to Fresh Stop Market, developed by a 2021 YSE fellow.
Journal Articles:
Velandia, M., Trejo-Pech, C., Moskowitz, K., Tanaka, K., Hyden, H., Rignall, K., and Del Brocco, A. 2021. “Financial Sustainability of Nonprofit Organizations Covering Multiple Goals of the Food Justice Mission: The Case of New Roots, Inc.” Journal of Food Distribution Research. Forthcoming.
Velandia, M., X. Chen, J. Yenerall, S. Schexnayder, C. Trejo-Pech, K. Tanaka, H. Hyden, K. Rignall. 2021. “Factors Influencing Fruit and Vegetable Farmers’ Willingness to Participate in Market Outlets with a Food Justice Mission: The Case of Fresh Stop Markets.” In the Proceedings issue Journal of Food Distribution Research Society 52, 2021.
Tanaka, K. 2020. “Justice & Tyranny: Bringing ‘Rural’ Back Into the Sociology of Food and Agriculture.” The 2019 Presidential Address at the Annual Meeting of the Rural Sociological Society. Rural Sociology, 85(1): 3-21. DOI: 10.1111/ruso.12317.
Rignall, K., K. Tanaka, H. Hyden, A. DelBrocco, T. Cuellar, N. Messer, M Valendia, and C. Trejo-Pech. “Evolving Food Justice Practice: Food Hub Case Studies in the Eastern United States.” Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment. Submitted and currently under review.
Journal Manuscript Under Preparation
Trejo-Pech, C., M. Velandia, K. Tanaka, K. Rignall, and T. Billie. 2021 “Financial Sustainability of Nonprofit Food Organizations: The Case of Framer Foodshare Inc.” To be submitted to a journal.
Workshops, Webinars and Presentations:
- From the UK Research Team:
Tanaka, K. 2021. “Framing Agriood Justice in Sustainable Rural Japan: Explorations of challenges and opportunities,” presented at the symposium Agroecology, Sustainable Food Production and Satoyama, organized by the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of California – Berkeley and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Virtua), March 2021.
Tanaka, K. 2021. Keynote Panelist. Panel titled “Leveraging Our Expertise to Support Sustainable Solutions,” at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Southern Rural Sociological Association (Virtual), February 2021
Tanaka, K. 2020. Plenary Panelist. Role of SRSA in National Perspective on Rural Development and Research Issues, at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Rural Sociological Association, Louisville, KY, February 2020.
Tanaka, K. 2020. “Building Food Justice Markets: Opportunities and Challenges in the Eastern United States.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Rural Sociological Association, Louisville, KY, February 2020. (with K. Rignall, H. Hyden, M. Valendia, C. Trejo-Pech2, T. Cuellar**, N. Messer††, and A. Del Brocco*).
Tanaka, K. 2019. “Justice and Tyranny: Bringing ‘Rural’ Back Into the Sociology of Food.” RSS Presidential Address presented at the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Rural Sociological Society, Richmond, VA, August 2019.
Tanaka, K. 2018. “What’s Social about Social Sustainability of Local Food Systems?” Presented as an invited Breakout Session Speaker in the session, Eating Well Together: Developing Partnerships For A Local Food Economy at Our Farms, Our Future: Envisioning the Next 30 Years of Sustainable Agriculture, St. Louis, MO, April 3-5, 2018.
- From the UT Research Team:
Velandia, M., X. Chen, J. Yenerall, S. Schexnayder, C. Trejo, K. Tanaka, H. Hyden, K. Rignall. 2020. “Factors Influencing Fruit and Vegetable Farmers’ Willingness to Participate in Market Outlets with a Food Justice Mission: The Case of Fresh Stop Markets.” Presented at the 2020 Food Distribution Research Virtual Conference (October 13, 2020).
- From New Roots Inc.
U.S. Food Sovereignty Alliance Political Education Workshop with farmers and organizers in Orlando, Florida. A total of 20 farmers 20 organizers participated. We did one on one trainings with three farmers.
Webinar with the Statewide UF/IFAS Extension Family Nutrition Program Organizers (15 people, no farmers) on New Roots Fresh Stop Market replication. The organizers learned about the specifics of the Fresh Stop Market model, in particular, how to reach families with limited resources
Presented with Nashville Food Project at the Tennessee Local Food Summit to ten attendees (four farmers and six organizers). The farmers and organizers learned more about the Fresh Stop Market model and the logistics of how the model works.
d. Attended Closing the Hunger Gap Conference and met with Farmer FoodShare and other food justice organizers and farmers with a total reach of 40 (ten farmers and 30 organizers). The farmers learned about the difference between a charity and justice model of fresh food distribution.
New Roots met with Bloomington, Indiana professors and students, farmers (five), organizers (Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard) and government (reached a total of 50 people).The organizers and farmers learned how the Fresh Stop Market model works, including community organizing, logistics, finances, etc.
- Mini-Course Description:
"A committed and empowered base is crucial to creating sustainable food systems where farmers and families with limited
resources can thrive. This course will teach participants how to use community organizing to develop and mobilize a base of
support. Using lessons from Fresh Stop Markets, they’ll explain how farmers and volunteers can develop and maintain relationships with key community partners to expand their market reach and increase farm profits. Farmers will explain how food justice is
integrated into their business model, the importance of farmers as leaders and community organizers, and how they use community organizing skills to expand market audience, plan yearly production, harvest and distribute, and create successful markets. A
market leader will explain how organizing skills are used to recruit other shareholders and committed volunteers, communicate
with farmers, and create, operate and sustain their markets. Instructors: Rae Strobel, Barr Farms (KY), Karyn Moskowitz, New Roots,
Inc. (KY), Heather Hyden, University of Kentucky (KY), and Maggie Bowling, Old Homeplace Farm (KY)"
- 2019 Southern SAWG Session Description in the Program:
"If You Don’t Carrot (Care It) Won’t Happen" — Learn how New Roots leaders and farmers are igniting community power to bring farm-fresh produce to families living in our nation’s most under-invested neighborhoods. The New Roots Fresh Stop Market model leverages the tradition of cooperative economics and the utilization of community leaders and spaces to access fresh and local food. Join this session to explore how these markets are changing our food system so farmers get a fair price and the community gets to eat. Karyn Moskowitz, New Roots, Inc. (KY), Ben Abel and Bree Pearsall, Rootbound Farm (KY), Joseph Monroe, Valley Spirit Farm (KY), and Jeremy Porter, Lexington Fresh Stop Markets (KY). This session was well attended. It was stand-room only. We cannot estimate how many were farmers, professionals, NGO leaders, etc.
Thesis:
- Denton, R. “Evaluating Factors Influencing Tennessee and Kentucky Farmers’ Willingness to Sell Produce Through Fresh Stop Markets.” MS thesis, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Thesis committee (Margarita Velandia, Carlos O. Trejo-Pech, Xuqi Chen, and Jackie Yenerall). To be completed March 2022.
- Cuellar, Teya “Constraints and Opportunities in Community-Led Food Justice Models.” MS thesis, Department of Community & Leadership Development, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, completed July 2019 (Chair).
Grants Submitted Related to This Project
- Muhammad, A. M. Velandia, C. Hellwinckel, M. Jin, K. Franck, K. Johnson, J. Yenerall, C. Trejo-Pech, J. Franklin, D. Butler, and S. Jagadamma (K. Tanaka was invited as a collaborator because only University of Tennessee faculty could be included in the proposal). “Fostering Resilient, Regenerative, and Equitable Food Systems.” UT Ag Research Strategic Planning Research Initiatives (SPRINT) Phase III. 2021-2023. Requested Total: $199,747.
Learning Outcomes
To share knowledge and techniques with other farmers
How to practice community organizing strategies to coordinate with farmers on produce distribution and connect with market leaders.
To define food justice and learn how it intersects with food security, drug recovery, farm labor rights, land rights and equitable distribution.
To understand the financial logistics of the fresh stop market model.
How to develop a course presentation for a multi-stakeholder audience
How to differentiate between charity and food justice models for food distribution
Project Outcomes
For small-scale and limited-resource farmers, particularly those who are still beginners in farming, access to a financially viable market is a challenge. Food hubs and food value-chains (https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/local-regional/food-hubs) have become important in offering opportunities for these farmers. Many food hubs emphasize "agricultural sustainability" and "local food economy" as their goals in operating an alternative market outlet for farmers and consumers. Yet, the longevity of these food hubs tend to be relatively short -- around 7-8 years. This means that participating in one or more food hubs can be a substantial risk to those farmers, who have not yet established their financial security. By comparing various models of food hubs with a strong social justice goal, this project will be able to identify the key elements of successful and fruitful collaborations between farmers and operators of food hubs to achieve economic, environmental, and social benefits for farmers and consumers.
None at this moment.